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Protesters demanding the withdrawal of the U.S. military from the Korean peninsula and the trial of the two U.S. soldiers at a South Korean court
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SEOUL,
November 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Dozens of South Korean
students broke into a U.S. military base Tuesday, November 26, to
protest the acquittal of two American soldiers who crushed to death two
local schoolgirls with their car.
The
protestors cut through two steel wire fences and staged a 30-minute
anti-U.S. protest in Camp Red Cloud, headquarters of the 2nd Infantry
Division, in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, American officials said,
according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"They
were arrested by riot police after staging a brief protest inside the
base," a U.S. military spokesman told AFP. Police said around 50
college students and labor activists were arrested.
The
Voice of the People, an Internet broadcast run by anti-U.S. groups,
showed rifle-toting U.S. soldiers watching as protestors burned a U.S.
flag and chained themselves to one another as they reached the gate of
the camp.
However,
no one was injured and there was no damage to U.S. property during the
demonstration, said a South Korean police officer in Uijeongbu.
"With
the help of U.S. guards, we arrested the protestors," he said.
The
protestors carried placards reading "U.S.A troops out of
Korea" and demanded the soldiers acquitted in the murder be tried
again in a South Korean court.
On
Friday, November 22, a U.S. soldier who ran over two South Korean school
girls with a 50-tonne military vehicle was cleared by a U.S. military
court of two counts of negligent homicide.
Sergeant
Mark Walker was at the wheel of the tank track vehicle that crushed to
death 14-year-olds Shim Mi-Son and Shin Hyon-Sun on June 13.
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Protesters holding a sign condemning the United States Forces Korea (USFK)
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Another
U.S. soldier, Sergeant Fernando Nino, the vehicle's navigator and
commander, was cleared of two counts of negligent homicide Wednesday,
November 20, by the same court martial at the sprawling U.S. military
post north of Seoul.
The
vehicle ran over the girls as they walked past a military convoy on
their way to a birthday party.
The
eight-member military jury deliberated for more than four hours before
finding Walker not guilty on both counts.
The
case has fuelled anti-U.S. sentiment in South Korea, which hosts 37,000
U.S. forces under a mutual defense pact dating back to the 1950-1953
Korean War.
On
Monday, 20 students armed with iron pipes threw firebombs into a U.S.
military warehouse for office furniture, triggering a brief fire which
was put out quickly without injuries.
South
Korean activists have staged regular protests outside U.S. military
bases since the killing of the two schoolgirls, burning American flags
and scuffling with riot police.
Under
an accord between Washington and Seoul, U.S. forces have legal
jurisdiction over U.S. soldiers committing crimes in South Korea while
on duty. The South Korean government asked for jurisdiction in this case
but was denied by Washington.
However,
South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung has issued a stern warning against
violent anti-U.S. protests.
"The
government must sternly deal with illegal and violent
demonstrations," Kim said at a cabinet meeting.
Anti-U.S.
groups, for their part, vowed to stage more protests including
anti-American rallies Saturday, November 30, in Seoul and 14 other
cities as police tightened security around U.S. bases.
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